Torn ligament- this can't be good.

Pretty sure I tore a ligament in my knee today. The good, previously uninjured knee. Leg got caught as I was bringing it down from the kick, and something went "POP" really loud, and then I was curled up in a ball on the floor.

Thankfully our new white belt is trained to be an EMT, and one of the instructors has training too. Both are also law enforcement officers. I said to them "I need an adult and I'm calling the police!" They chuckled a bit and checked my pupils, heh.

Looks like torn ligaments don't tend to fix themselves and require surgery. I might not be able to practice or train for a good 6 months or more...

Feeling some despair right now.

Ever get a torn ligament in your knee? Did you have surgery? Are you still able to fight? How long after surgery, if you had it, did it take for you to be able to train and fight again?

That sucks, I really hope you have health insurance so you can afford to have an MRI.

It depends on how bad it is; I've had tear in my left leg's meniscus since I was 20 (33 this week). I've also had my ACL pop (but not really loud and I wasn't floored), but it was only strained. I iced the bejesus out of it and wore a knee brace for a few; no big deal.

I've seen 3 people rip their ACL, and the 2 that came back it was a 6 month process. They do fine though with their new knees. Good luck.

Thank you.
I'm gonna gain weight and lose strength and lose training. 6 months... that will hurt a lot. :(
And Teh Lay is going to be all complicated now too. ****.

But I'll see if Medicare will cover an MRI. Heh. Guess I'll go see the dojo orthopedic surgeon... a number of my fellow students recommend this person. **** man, Kyokushin is crazy. Guess that's why I fit in, haha!

I'm going to have to sit on the bench for half a year. Guess I'll pull out my most antagonizingly weird ball gowns for that.

My wife tore her ACL during a waterski'ing session. It was repaired using arthuroscopic surgery and there was some down time. Her knee has been fine since. She wore a full knee brace for a couple of weeks and then used a knee support brace for a while after that. They gave her some physical therapy for a few weeks after that and after about two months, she was good to go.

I feel your pain! After 45+ years in martial arts and having just turned 60, I can tell you knee injuries are no joke and they do NOT get better with time. Strongly suggest you visit your local Orthopedic Clinic as soon as possible to have it examined and remove guesswork. After two ACL replacements, torn MCL repair and several minor Orthoscopic procedures, I can tell you that tendons and ligaments do not heal readily or quickly since these are not fed with blood like muscle tissue. Surgery is the most common answer and you will always worry about it once it has been repaired. As a matter of fact, today is my last physical therapy session after recovering from surgery to repair a torn Perneal tendon in my foot. I am slowly getting back into the dojo and working on movements, but am nowhere close to going even light workouts. Get checked out by a medical professional!

don't jump to conclusions, it may not be serious, but you won't know for sure without an MRI. go see a qualified sports doc who knows knee injuries, and pray you don't get some quack who thinks they can feel around your knee and tell you what's wrong ("you don't *need* an MRI, i can tell it's fine!") that's a load of bullshit. you need an MRI to tell what's really wrong.

"Face punches are an essential character building part of a martial art. You don't truly love your children unless you allow them to get punched in the face." - chi-conspiricy
"When I was a little boy, I had a sailor suit, but it didn't mean I was in the Navy." - Mtripp on the subject of a 5 year old karate black belt
"Without actual qualifications to be a Zen teacher, your instructor is just another roundeye raping Asian culture for a buck." - Errant108
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I tore a ligament and learned more than I wanted to about it while I was healing - first off, get the MRI if at all possible. You will need to know exactly what popped and how bad the tear is. Once you know that, you can decide about surgery. I had a partial tear to my MCL (not ACL) which healed without surgery. It made the sound, dropped me instantly, a lot like your issue.

Once you know what's up, follow the doc's orders. If you **** around and stress a tear like that you'll heal slower and a 6 month break will become a 9 month break...or worse. I slowed my own healing by trying to get back to training too fast.

Be patient and heal faster. Also, ask the doc how much exercise you can do - I was able to box while wearing a knee brace. Progressed back into kickboxing and grappling relatively quickly once I stopped putting stress where I shouldn't have.

How long after surgery, if you had it, did it take for you to be able to train and fight again?

It's been about 4 months. Supposed to take 6 months to recover fully (if I do all the work)

I thought I'd need an MRI but then an orthopod was able to diagnose my torn ligaments and meniscuseses without one. This made me happy because it would have been a wait of several months to get an MRI otherwise.

Oh wow, girl...I am so sorry to hear that. And we were just talking about you coming up for the NW KK Challenge next year. I hope, somehow, that it still happens.

One thing to consider is that even with an injury or recovering from surgery, there are still ways to get exercise. My uncle, for instance, who does triathalons and races mountain bikes competitively shattered his ankle last year and couldn't put weight on it for quite awhile. He kept active by swimming laps just utilizing his upper body with the floatie thing between his legs so he didn't have to risk his recovery. Just a thought.

Tearing the knees is no fun. My left knee is a pretty grisley prospect at this point. Lateral ligaments torn and stretched, maniscus half torn and anterior completely torn. My right knee has also been giving me trouble along the inside of it, not diagnosed at this time because I have no medical insurance but its constantly sore.

When my knee went for the last time I was on a cane for a year and a half. I did this just before I turned 21. I am turning 29 this year and my knee is still not near 100% but with care and constant work at it I'm doing ok. Surgery wasn't an option (crappy surgery was offered with only a 50% chance of success and I couldn't afford it anyway) so I eventually found an alternative healthing art call Helot to get off the cane and get back to training. It still can dislocate on me but I'm pretty good at putting it back in place now. I can run, lift, hike and I'm back to training. Currently I'm doing boxing, judo and jiu jitsu. Only one thats giving me trouble is the jiu jitsu but again I'm pretty good at popping it back in place.

You will need to give it time to heal and an MRI is a very important to knowing the full extent of the injury. If its only a tear in a single ligament than surgery is a very good option (mine is to extensive for anything simple, they wanted to cut ligaments out of my hamstring and wrap them around my knee!) and you will want to get it done as quickly as possible. While recovering as long as you have clearance from your doctor boxing might be doable if you are careful but initially swimming is probably going to be your best option for staying in shape while you heal.